Do you own an iPhone? Have you noticed how photos on your device are saved not in JPEG or PNG format but in a different file format called HEIC?
What is the HEIC file type, who made it, when was it introduced, what benefits does it offer, and how is it different from other file formats?
What Is the HEIC File Type?
HEIC (High-Efficiency Image Container) is a proprietary file format made by Apple and introduced with iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra in 2017. It’s based on HEIF (High-Efficiency Image File), an open file format introduced in 2015 by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG).
The main advantage of HEIC over other file formats is that it can store images in higher quality whileusing less storage space on your device. In fact, HEIC files take roughly half the storage space that equivalent JPEG files do.
iPhone users often complain about running out of storage, and since photos and videos often take up most of it, switching from JPEG to HEIC was essential to reduce file size significantly. In fact, HEIC is now the default file format on iPhones, iPads, and Macs.
This file size reduction is made possible thanks to a more efficient image and video compression standard called HEVC (High-Efficiency Video Coding). For context, JPEG uses the DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform) compression standard. In the same way that JPEG images use a .jpg or .jpeg file extension, HEIC images use a .heic or .heics file extension.
Pros of Using HEIC
Aside from the reduced file size, HEIC also allowsyou to take Live Photos on your iPhone, which are short video clips that capture the moments before and after a photo is taken.
If you’re used to clicking photos in burst mode, HEIC allows the storage of multiple images in a single file for better organization.
HEIC files also contain important metadata such as the image’s resolution, size, camera settings, location and time of shooting, and more.
Cons of Using HEIC
For all the benefits HEIC offers, it has one major drawback: it is not universally compatible. This means if you own a device made by a manufacturer other than Apple, there’s a chance that it won’t have support for HEIC, and you won’t be able to open a file shared with you by an iPhone user.
This is whytransferring image files from iPhone to Androidor Windows can sometimes be problematic. Luckily, phones running newer versions of Android (Android 10 or later) have support for the HEIC file format.
Windows, on the other hand, does not have native support for the file format, so if you want toopen HEIC files on your Windows computer, you have to either convert them to JPEG or other supported file formats first or install the HEIF Image Extensions app from the Microsoft Store.
Download:HEIF Image Extensions(Free)
If you are using an older version of Windows, you may be unable to install the HEIF Image Extensions app. In that case, use a third-party image viewer instead.
Remember that because HEIC is better at image compression, the file size might increase when you convert a HEIC image to JPEG, causing you to lose more storage space.
Store More Photos and Videos on Your iPhone With HEIC
iPhones don’t come with a dedicated microSD slot for expandable storage, which means the limited internal storage on your device is all you have. However, this is not the case with certain Android phones since many still offer a microSD slot. You can just buy more storage if you need to.
Because of this, Apple needed to find a way to reduce the file size of images and videos on the iPhone to reduce the storage space they took. As we read above, HEIC came to the rescue, and it’s the reason why you don’t get that annoying message on your iPhone about the storage being full as much anymore.
